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The impossible pound note

By Stephanie Pain

It was about 4 o’clock on 14 November 1888 – a Wednesday. The man behind the counter of the spirit store on Glasgow’s Parliamentary Road was pretty sure of the time. And he remembered the man clearly. About 40 years old, medium height with brown whiskers. He had a “dissipated appearance” and “appeared to have sore feet”. But it was the brand-new pound note he proffered that aroused the shopkeeper’s suspicions. The paper was too soft&colon; when he rubbed it between his fingers and thumb, his fingers went right through it. It had to be bad, he said. The man snatched the note and, despite his sore feet, ran off.

This was the second dodgy pound note in two days. The Bank of Scotland was appalled. Three years earlier it had issued a new set of notes incorporating so much chemical cunning that they were impossible to forge. At least, that was the theory.

ALL the banks were worried about this newfangled photography. Banknotes had always been the target of forgers – but only the most skilled engravers ever got close to a perfect copy. Photography was going to make the counterfeiter’s life a whole lot easier. Take a picture of the note – or its component parts – transfer each negative to a printing stone and print away.

The banks had some defences. They printed in colours that were hard to photograph, such as blue. Some added a series of features in different colours. That wasn’t enough for the Bank of Scotland. In 1880, the bank called in Alexander Crum Brown, one of Scotland’s most eminent chemists. His job was …